Swiss
Model for Health Care Thrives Without Public Option |
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By Nelson D. Schwartz | |
Thursday, October 1, 2009 | |
ZURICH – Like every other country in Europe, Switzerland guarantees health
care for all its citizens. But the system here does not remotely resemble
the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents
of universal coverage in the United States. |
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Swiss
private insurers are required to offer coverage to all citizens, regardless
of age or medical history. And those people, in turn, are obligated to
buy health insurance. |
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That is why many academics who have studied the
Swiss health care system have pointed to this Alpine nation of about 7.5
million as a model that delivers much of what Washington is aiming to
accomplish – without the contentious option of a government-run health
insurance plan. |
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In Congress, the Senate Finance Committee is dealing
with legislation proposed by its chairman, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana,
which would require nearly all Americans to buy health insurance, but
stops short of the government-run insurance option that is still strongly
supported by the liberal Democrats. |
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Two
amendments that would have added a public option to the Baucus bill were
voted down on Tuesday. But another Senate bill, like the House versions,
calls for a public insurance option. |
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By many measures, the Swiss are healthier than Americans, and surveys indicate that Swiss people are generally happy with their system. Switzerland, moreover, provides high-quality care at costs well below what the United States spends per person. | |
And yet, as a potential model for the United States, the Swiss health care system involves some important trade-offs that American consumers, insurers and health care providers might find hard to swallow. | |
The Swiss government does not “ration care” – that populist bogeyman in the American debate – but it does keep sown overall spending by regulating drug prices and fees for lab tests and medical devices. | |
Comment: |
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As someone who has spent a reasonable amount of time in Switzerland, I would like to point out that the Swiss system of democracy, public transport, ski lifts, social structure, immigration, citizenship and army are other things for us to be jealous of. | |
‘By many measures, the Swiss are healthier than Americans’? You don’t say? I would guess that their ability to walk anywhere is something that alleviates this…. | |
You don’t want to start me on a lot of Western countries reliance on drug prescriptions…. | |
The
full article is available at: |
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